Reaction to Remarks

And now the most absorbing two minutes in television, the latest from the wartime grapevine:

Reaction to Remarks

The Anti-Defamation League is denouncing South Carolina Democratic Sen. Ernest Hollings as -- "crude, ugly, and classically anti-Semitic" for saying President Bush went to war in Iraq to please Jews in the U.S. In a newspaper column two weeks ago, Hollings wrote -- "With Iraq no threat, why invade a sovereign country? The answer: President Bush's policy to secure Israel ... [which] Bush felt ... would take the Jewish vote from the Democrats."

The Washington Post, in a story headlined -- "U.S. Faces Growing Fears of Failure," reports today that -- "The U.S.-led coalition has dramatically lowered its goals, [Iraqis] say, ... from an early pledge to create a stable, democratic country ... to scrambling to cobble together an interim government by June 30 that will have only limited political authority."

But, in fact, as the Post itself has been reporting for at least a year, it has been the plan all along for power to go to an interim government, which would then hold elections to make Iraq a democracy.

Jailbird Going to Jordan?

Speaking of that plan, Jordan's King Abdullah has agreed to let the U.S. transfer Saddam Hussein to a Jordanian airbase before the June 30 handover... that according to the Iraqi online newspaper Al-Rafedin.

What's more, the newspaper says that in 312 hours of taped interviews with Pentagon officials in Iraq, Saddam Hussein has admitted to bribing leaders around the world and murdering more than 200 of his political opponents. But, the newspaper says, Pentagon officials were most surprised by Saddam's apparent ignorance of international and political affairs. No specifics were given.

Stop Selling to Israel?

As Israel threatens to continue bulldozing homes hiding terrorists in Gaza, family of Rachel Corrie -- the American protester killed by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza last year -- is urging bulldozer manufacturer Caterpillar to stop doing business with Israel, insisting the American company would be morally responsible for any subsequent casualties since -- "its products are ... weapons and not tools."

Rachel's cousin Elizabeth Corrie, in a column posted online, says -- "The Israeli Army takes Caterpillar bulldozers, armors them, and then uses them ... in violation of international law. ... [Caterpillar now has] a chance to demonstrate integrity, courage and compassion."